This invention relates to an eye position detecting apparatus for detecting eye positions in an image of a face.
For example, Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 60-158303, 60-158304, 61-77705 and 61-77706 disclose eye position detecting apparatus for detecting driver's eye positions in order to check a driver's doze and inattentive driving. These apparatus employ two images of a driver's face. The first image is obtained with infrared rays irradiated to the driver's face in one direction and the second image is obtained with infrared rays irradiated to the driver's face in another direction. These two images are processed to detect the positions of specified points different from the circumference. The detected positions are utilized to recognize the three-dimensional positions of the driver's eyes. One serious problem with such eye position detecting apparatus is the shadows of the hair, eyebrows and spectacle frame on the images which may dissolve the specified points.